Welcome Home, Andrew!

You may have noticed that we've been missing one of our Monkeys this summer. Andrew has been staying with Nana and Papa in Utah for the last six (L-O-N-G) weeks. They've been spoiling him rotten with trips to the movies, swimming, parades, fireworks, HAFB Air Museum, a baseball game, Snowbird, Alpine Slides, mini-golfing, restaurants, rock-collecting, playing with cousins, camping with Uncle Kody, and Lagoon with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. Andrew has had such a blast; I'm pretty sure he hasn't missed us at all. Nana said it's been the best summer she's ever had!

It was interesting to see how our family dynamics changed while Andrew was gone. We sure missed his witty humor and responsible "big brother" nature. Logan, missing his best playmate, became good friends with Hannah and played with her all the time. It was hard to feel really settled in our new house with one of our kids missing.

Andrew flew home with Nana on Thursday, and we are so glad to have him back! We've sure missed you, Buddy!

Fun times in with the Thompsons

More Delta Fun!

Kalahari Resort

We wanted to do something really special while Nana and Papa were visiting in February. We had saved some Christmas money (thanks Grandpa Dave!), so we decided to go to Kalahari Resort in Sandusky. It was snowy and freezing outside, but we were nice and toasty swimming and playing inside! This place was HUUUUGE, with pools and slides galore! We had a nice hotel room and got to explore the waterpark for two fun days.
Andrew, Nana, Logan, and Summer in the wave pool.
Nana, Logan, Andrew, and Summer riding Logan's very favorite slide, "The Dark Ride!" That's not it's real name, but that's what Logan called it (probably because most of the ride twists and turns through a dark tunnel), and it stuck!

Hannah loved this slide, but hated the spray of water in the face, so she quickly learned to keep her hand up by her face. So cute!

Logan LOVED being in the water! We had to literally pull him out by the life jacket every time we finished a slide!In the kids play area, there's this HUGE bucket that dumps like a GAZILLION gallons of water every ten minutes. Here's Papa and Hannah BEFORE...

...aaaaaaaaaaand AFTER!

No, we didn't put Logan in time-out in the elevator. After two days at Kalahari, he had just had ENOUGH pictures!

We had such a fantastic time and made so many fun memories with Nana and Papa! Thanks for coming with us! We love you and miss you!

Merry Christmas!

This was our fourth (and final!) year spending Christmas in Ohio. It's been very fun to continue old traditions from our extended families as well as create new ones of our own. As always, we started things off with a yummy Christmas Eve breakfast at Cracker Barrel.Bryan and Andrew
Hannah
Logan and Summer
Hannah and Summer in the Cracker Barrel store.
That night, we all gathered around the Christmas tree in our new jammies (thanks, Nana and Papa) to read Christmas books and the Christmas story from the Bible.

Hannah entertained herself while we read.
After leaving milk and cookies for Santa, we went out on the lawn to leave magic food for the reindeer.
I think this may have been the first year in Ohio that we had some snow for our reindeer feeding tradition.
It was so comical to watch each child with their unique method of spreading their bag of food. Andrew just turned his bag upside-down and shook it out, Hannah threw it by the handful as hard as she could, and Logan crouched down close to the ground and very carefully sprinkled little bits of food in deliberate places all over the front yard. I even heard him whisper, "Here, reindeers! Come and get your food, reindeers!"Christmas Morning!!! (Don't they look excited?) The boys kindly slept in till 8:00 and we had to wake Hannah up.
Someone just woke up!
Andrew opening his microscope set from Nana and Papa.
Santa brought remote control cars for both Andrew and Logan.Hannah loved playing Mommy to her baby Snow White doll from Nana and Papa.A wireless Internet router for Bryan!
We were so spoiled again this year! In addition to the Netbook that Bryan and I gave each other, I also got a beautiful picture of the Salt Lake Temple from Brooke and Kody, a red wool peacoat from my mom and dad...
...and an awesome watercolor illustration of our family from our talented friends, the Tugeaus. Don't you just love it?!!
Hannah with her Christmas loot.
Logan's presents
Andrew...nice. (And in case you were all wondering, YES, he did get his alarm clock that he asked Santa for. Good thing.)
Just when the kids thought we were all done, Bryan pulled out one more present. It was a battery from Grandma and Grandpa Anderson that went to their new...
DODGE VIPER POWERWHEELS!!! Wow! Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa!

There goes the Lego table! Everyone better stay off the sidewalks!